From the President’s Desk: Millie Eben, President

It is with pride that I step into the role of President of this remarkable organization. I still remember the phone call four years ago from Debra Ronning asking if I might be interested in joining the PMTA Board of Directors as it’s First Vice President. Following in her footsteps—as well as those of our other past-presidents—is an honor, albeit somewhat intimidating! Our good wishes are with outgoing President James Douthit as he returns to his home state of New York as Associate Professor of Music at Nazareth College in Rochester. We will miss him!

PMTA’s activity level has grown tremendously in the last decade, and our leaders have been working diligently to bring the organization into the 21st century in so many ways—99.9% of which have nothing to do with music. This includes updating our governing documents to conform to 501c3 regulations, revising leadership structure for more efficient process, instituting membership recruitment programs, modernizing financial record keeping, revising the grant program, expanding and simplifying the website, developing fund raising programs, streamlining competitions, festivals and conferences, investigating how to reach the needs of non-pianists. I think we sometimes get so caught up in the “doing” of things, that we forget the “why”—why does PMTA exist and who do we serve? This is addressed quite succinctly in our mission statement and it would do us all well to occasionally review the statement, especially at those times we become overwhelmed by all these details. I now have it hanging on the wall above my desk as a daily reminder of who we are!

PMTA Mission Statement

The purpose of this organization is to:

• Further the art of music;
• Promote the professional growth and development of its members by providing programs that encourage and support teaching, performance, composition and research;
• Provide ongoing performance and education opportunities for students of its membership;
• Promote and support music and music education in the community;
• Promote public awareness of the value of music education for all individuals.

PMTA and its Local Associations exist to serve the musical, educational and professional needs of its members and their students—a daunting task at that! We strive for excellence, but excellence doesn’t mean we have to be 100 percent better in any one thing; it means we strive to be one percent better in 100 things. So as PMTA continues through it’s growing pains, we ask for your patience. Change is never easy…but to quote John Maxwell, “Change is inevitable, growth is optional.” Let’s continue to grow together.

An enjoyable and musical weekend!

The annual PMTA state conferences are always a highlight of the year, and this last one at Penn State University was no exception. The weather was wonderful, the accommodations were superb and the company was marvelous! These events continue to evolve and surprise us as each new conference chair brings his or her own ideas and perspectives to the event. The diversity of this weekend was extraordinary, from the MTNA student performance competitions, to Friday evening’s performance by our guest artists Kathryn Cowdrick, Richard Swenson and Jean Barr, to a ‘Seussical’ performance by some members of the Westmoreland and Greater Pittsburgh Local Associations during our IMT Luncheon on Saturday. Congratulations to Nanette Kaplan-Solomon for organizing another exceptional conference. Thanks to all our conference clinicians for giving their time and talents to PMTA.

Thanks, also, to our hosts Penn State University Music Department, faculty and staff including site coordinator Steven Smith for their attention to the myriad details. PMTA depends upon the generosity of these institutions in order to hold its yearly events; their hospitality and professionalism is very much appreciated. Thanks also to Tim Shafer for coordinating the student help throughout the weekend and to Denise Strayer, President of the Central PA Local Association, for her assistance in finding competition monitors.

The state preliminary MTNA Competitions on Friday ran smoothly thanks to our competition coordinators Ellen Flint (Young Artist), Jacqueline Herbein (Senior), James Rodkey (Junior) and Warren Magid (Composition). Having twelve Young Artist Piano entries was unprecedented in the history of PMTA and made for quite a long day. But as always, our contestants were very patient, incredibly well prepared and presented some spectacular performances.

Congratulations to the teachers and to the families for continuing to encourage and nurture the education of these young musicians. Results of those competitions are listed elsewhere in this newsletter.

Congratulations!

…to this year’s PMTA Teacher of the Year, Jacqueline Herbein, and PMTA Service Award recipient, outgoing President James Douthit. They join a long list of deserving and dedicated individuals.

Publications update

At the PMTA Board meeting, November 10th at Penn State University, there was lengthy discussion regarding PMTA printed materials including the quarterly newsletter, conference information and the yearly handbook. Last year, the decision was made to discontinue a printed newsletter due to rising costs of printing, mailing and processing. That decision resulted in a quarterly profit of nearly $10,000. The issue was revisited again this year, and the Board of Directors voted on the following policy:

• Newsletter: At the end of the current subscription period (April 2006), there will no longer be subscriptions for a printed newsletter. The PMTA official newsletter, For the Record, will continue as a quarterly newsletter. However, it will be printed and postal mailed once per year in August with this issue to include all conference registration information. This issue, along with the other three issues, will all be available online with no security passwords required. Any of the articles can be printed via the website. Deadlines will remain the same. Those individuals desiring hard copies can print them from the website.
• Handbook: The PMTA Handbook will no longer exist in its present format. In its place, all members will receive via postal mail (at no cost) a Member Resource Booklet which will include all information that does not change (bylaws, DSPF details, competition information, etc). All the information included in this book is currently available on the website. This will be a one time mailing in January of 2006. All new members will receive a copy upon joining. Replacement or additional copies can be requested via Administrative Assistant Karen Nagle at a cost of $8 each. Member contact information will be available on the website where it can be continually updated.
• Annual Conference Information: Conference information and registration will continue to be available on the website, but will also be printed and included in the August newsletter which will be postal mailed to all members.

The PMTA Board of Directors has received numerous comments–positive and negative–regarding the move to a paperless organization. The benefits of going paperless are many:

• Financial saving will help fund: *MTNA competitions (which always set us back $1500-$2000 annually); *travel grants for competitors; *clinicians and artists for annual conferences; *development of new programs;
• Current officer contact information, both state and local;
• Updated membership contact information: On the average, about 40% of membership changes its phone, email or mailing address after the handbook goes to print which makes it immediately obsolete. BUT PLEASE EMAIL ANN TREXLER IF YOUR CONTACT INFORMATION CHANGES!;
• Less clerical work for our volunteer members;
• Keeping all deadlines current;
• Immediate access to current forms for DSPF, competitions, grants, etc.

The downside? A few members do not have email; but even that decreases each year. They will receive the once-a-year mailing in August with everyone else. This is where I am enlisting the assistance of our Local Association Presidents to assist in relaying the information to these individuals. The other concern is not having the member database for the entire state…which I’m not sure is really an issue. Everyone will receive in January the current state officer list with the Member Resource Booklet. We all have received our own Local Association member database. If you’ve visited the website lately, you’ll notice that if you have a website it can be directly linked from the state website! (Great way to advertise your activities.)

PMTA Website

The website will be a continuous “work in progress” with abundant possibilities for the future. In researching across the country, a ‘paperless’ organization is the wave of the future as operating costs soar and personal time diminishes for our volunteers. Aimee McCullen has put in a tremendous amount of time and effort into this website. We thank her profusely! Here’s what’s in store for pamusicteachers.org:

• member directory and financial forms will be the only items under password;
• clinician directory will be complete;
• all information from the handbook can be found on the website;
• conference and DSPF information more easily navigated; forms will be available in Word and pdf;
• advertisers and supporters will have information and links online;
• For the Record articles are now grouped by issue and easier to navigate (found under “For Teachers”, no password).

For the Record has some dedicated advertisers. Please thank them when you see them!

A visit from your President!

During the upcoming two years as PMTA President, I would welcome the opportunity to visit your Local Association to chat, to participate in a forum, to present a workshop…whatever you desire. Please call or email me if you’d like to schedule a visit.